Jail-door-operating device.



G. M. PINCH.

JAIL DOOR OPERATING DEVICE.

APPLIGATION FILED JUNE 13, 1910.

COLUMBIA PLANUGRAFH C0, WASHINGTON. D, c. v

Patented J an. 2, 1912.

2 SHEETBSHEET C. M. FINQH.

JAIL noon OPERATING DEVICE.

APPLICATION FILED JUNE 13. 1910. 1 ,01 3 ,48 1

Patented Jan. 2, 1912 2 SHEETS-SHEET 2 COLUMBIA PLANOGRAPH c0.. WASHINGTON. D. c.

UNITED STATES PATENT orr ron.

CHARLES IVL FINCI-I, OF SAN FRANCISCO, CALIFORNIA, ASSIGNOR T0 FINCH JAIL BUILDING & METAL CO., OF SAN FRANCISCO, CALIFORNIA, A CORPORATION OF CALIFORNIA.

JAIL-DOOR-OPERATING DEVICE.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Jan. 2, 1912.

. To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that 1, CHARLES M. FINoH, citizen of the United States, residing in the city and county of San Francisco and State of California, have invented new and useful Improvements in a J ail-Door-Operating Device, of which the following is a specification.

This invention relates to mechanism for operating and locking doors of jails or other buildings.

It is desirable to provide means whereby a plurality of doors, such as are used in jails, may be simultaneously opened, or by which any particular door may beoperated, and it is an object of my invention to provide a particularly simple, relatively inexpensive, and easily manipulated mechanism to accomplish, reliably and effectively, this result; and also to provide in combination with the operating device a locking mechanism.

The invention consists of the parts, and the construction and combination of parts, as hereinafter more fully described and claimed, having reference to the accompanying drawings, in which Figure 1 is a side elevation of the mechanism partly in section. Fig. 2 is a sectional plan. Fig. 3 is a transverse section. Fig. 4 shows the controller operated by a pneumatic cylinder.

In the illustrated embodiment of my invention, A is a suitable door, a plurality of which are mounted in plane and provided with rollers 2 adapted to travel upon separated overhead supports 3. The rollers 2 are pivoted upon hangers 4, rigidly fastened to the top of the door, and which have rigid .pins 6 guiding and supporting a reciprocable bolt lifter 7, slotted at 5. One end of the bolt lifter is formed with inclined surfaces 8, 9, and when the door is closed a vertical lock-bar or bolt 10 rests at the foot of the surface 8 on the bolt lifter 7 and at its lower end the bolt engages a recessed tongue 11 secured to the door A, which is thus held locked.

In order to lift the locking bolt 10 from the tongue to release the door A, the lift-er 7 is adapted to be shifted slightly and independently of the door so that the bolt rides up the cam surface 8 and clears the door tongue 11; the door then being unlocked may be slid open.

Various means may be employed to actuate the shiftable lifter 7, but it is desirable to provide a device as simple, strong and reliable as possible, and to'that end I secure to the bar 7 of each door a vertical plate 12, having a pivoted latch 13, from which projects a stiff pin 14, adapted to rest on a coupler 15, one of which is pivoted over each door. The coupler 15 is disposed horizontally and pivoted at 16 so that it may tilt up and down to lift the pin latch 13. Secured ata suitable point on the coupler is a cam or dog 17 vertically arranged over a long cam bar 18 supported upon suitable guide rollers 19 mounted at frequent intervals in the housing 20, of which the supports 3 form. the bottom. The coupler 15 of which there is one for each door, is arranged parallel with and vertically above the cam bar 18, and is adapted to move vertically so that it may swing upward when the cam bar 18 moves a cam against a dog 17 on the lower edge of the member 15, which latter thus becomes effective to couple the adjacent latch pin 14 with the longitudinally movable door shifter 27. The cam bar 18 extends the length of the corridor, and is adapted to be longitudinally moved by means of a lever 21 fulcrumed at 22 in a boX or station at one end of the corridor. A suitable locking rack 23 secured adjacent the lever is adapted to receive a lock pawl 24 carried by the lever, thus holding the lever and its connected cam-bar 18 in a given position. At divers points along the cam-bar 18 are adjustably secured angularly faced cams 25, which are so disposed relative to the doors and the couplers 15 that when the cam bar 18 is pushed to the right a little all the couplers 15 are simultaneously lifted by correlative cams 25 on bar 18, and the pins 14 resting on the couplers consequently lift the latches 13. The particular purpose of the pin 14 is to enter a notch26, a number of which are formed in a long horizontal controller-bar 27 shiftable lengthwise by an operating lever 28 fulcrumed at 29 to the wall of the operators station. When the couplers 15 have been tilted or rocked to carry up the several pins 14 into register with the notched controller 27 thismay then be shifted to the right by the operator along its bearings 30, thus carrying with it all the pins which are being supported and retained in the notches by the cam lifted couplers 18. This action, therefore, first pulls on the link or latch 13 and sufliciently shifts the bolt lifter 7 to run the wedge plane 8 under and raise the bolt 10, thus releasing the door at tongue 11. The slots 5 in the lifters 7 are just long enough to allow its independent, preliminary bolt lifting action, after which the pins 6 are positively engaged and the door pulled open as the controller bar 27 continues to move to the right. The maximum throw or motion of the controller slides the door A completely open, and the pin 14 drops behind a stop 31, which looks the door open. Since all the couplers are in the uplifted position, the pins 14: are retained in the several notches 26, and no door can be closed while the controller bar 27 is in the right hand posit-ion, but when the operator at lever 28 draws over the con troller all the doors are closed at once and locked by the automatically actuated bolt 10 as the lifter cams 9 and 8 pass under it.

In order to facilitate the opening and closing of any particular door, I mount upon the cam-bar 18 individual cams 32 adjustably secured at varying spaces to the left of the universal cams 25. For instance, the individual cam 32 of door #1 is set so close to relative cam 25 that by pulling lever 21 to the second notch on rack 23, the cam bar 18 carries cam 32 below the dog 17 and only door #1 is coupled to controller 27 which, if*now shifted, will open only this one door. The other doors are adapted to be selected in a like manner by special or individual cams 32 set to be successively shifted beneath their respective dogs 17 in direct accordance with the actuating lever 21 and the successive notches of the rack.

In operation, when a particular door is to be opened the operator pulls out the lever 21, which shifts over the cam-bar 18 and the several cams 32 pass successively the dogs 17 which are freely lifted and immediately drop until the particular cam, relative to the door to be opened, lifts the dog 17 of coupler 15 over that door, and the pawl 24 of lever 21 registers with its selective notch in rack 23. After the certain door coupler has been selected and raised, the operator pulls out lever 28, shifting the controller beam 27, thus pulling on the lifted pin 14 connected to the door to be opened, and the initial right hand movement of the lifter 15 raises bolt 10, after which action the door slides open. The construction here described, therefore, enables me to unlock all the doors by simply a slight initial movement of the lever 21, just enough to bring the cams 25 simultaneously into engagement the series by moving out the lever .21 until it registers with the indicating or index notch of rack 23, when the cam bar 18 will then be lifting the coupler of the selected door, the remaining ones being in normal lower position. The door can only be opened by actuating the controller to unlock bolt 10. In Fig. 4 I have shown the same door operating mechanism as being actuated by a pneumatic cylinder 40, instead of the manually actuated lever 28.

From the foregoing it will be understood that when the door has been moved to open position the bar, 15, will be dropped off its cam, 25, by shifting the coupler, 18, which will permit the pin, 11, to fall behind the angular stop, 31. When the door is to be closed the bar, 15, is lifted thus elevating the pin, 14, above the stop, 31, so that it will ride on the edge of bar, 15, as the door moves to the left. on the pivots, 16, having axes parallel to the length of the controller, these pivots be- The couplers, 15, are mounted" ing journaled in transverse arms on the including a guided, notched controller bar slidable in line parallel with the travel of the door, a bolt lifting bar guided-and slidable upon the door and having a lever pivoted upon the top with an arm extending into the path of travel of the notched bar, and an independently controlled tiltable arm parallel with the notched bar and movable to engage and disengage the lever arm with the notch.

2. A sliding door controlling mechanism, including a vertically slidable bolt and a latch upon the edge of the door with which it is engageable, a bar horizontally slidable on the door and having a cam adapted to disengage the bolt, said bar being slotted, with connecting pins whereby the door is only movable after the bolt is disengaged, a guided notched controller bar slidable parallel with the door, a lever arm fulcrumed to the door and projecting into the path of thee ontroller bar, and a tiltable coupler movable to engage or disengage the lever arm with the'notch'ed bar. 3

3. In a sliding door operating device, a vertically slidable bolt anda latch upon the edge of the door withwhich the bolt may engage, a horizontally guided and slotted bar movable upon the top of the door and having an inclined lug to engage and'lift the b0lt,4and pins to' subsequently engage the end of the slots, a notched bar slidable parallel with the door, a lever arm carried by the door, and engageable with the notched bar, said bar being movable to suecessively unlock and open the door, and to close and lock it. v

4. A horizontally slidable door with a catch, a vertically movable locking bolt engageable therewith, a horizontally slidable bar having a limited independent movement upon the top of the door, and carrying inclined bolt actuating lugs, a horizontally slidable notched controller bar, a lever arm, fulcrumed to the door and projecting into the path of the notched bar, lugs upon said bar, and a coupler with coacting lugs to tilt the coupler and engage the door carried lever with the notched controller.

5. A horizontally slidable door with a catch, a vertically movable locking bolt engageable therewith, a horizontally slidable bar having a limited independent movement upon the top of the door, and carrying inclined bolt actuating lugs, a horizontally slidable notched controller bar, a lever arm, fulcrumed to the door and projecting into the path of the notched bar, a trans- ,versely fulcrumed coupler bar corresponding in length with the door travel, and extending beneath the lever, an independently slidable bar parallel with the coupler, and lugs upon said bar and the coupler engage-- able to lift the coupler and engage the lever arm with the controller bar notch.

6. Aplurality of alined horizontally slidable doors having locking catches on the edges, vertically guided bolts engageable therewith, slotted bars having bolt lifting lugs, and pins through the slots to subsequently move the doors, a guided, notched controller bar slidable parallel with the doors, lever arms fulcrumed to the bars on the doors, and projecting into the path of the controller bar, tiltable coupler bars cor responding with each door and its lever, an independently slidable bar, lugs upon this bar and upon each coupler bar whereby the movement of the independent bar will raise the couplers and engage the door levers with the controller bar, and notches to move the doors or disengage them to leave the doors stationary in either an open or a closed position.

7. A plurality of alined horizontally slidable doors having locking catches on the edges, vertically guided bolts engageable therewith, slotted bars having bolt lifting lugs, and pins through the slots to subsequently move the doors, a guided notched controller bar slidable parallel with the doors, lever arms fulcrumed to the bars on the doors, and projecting into the path of the controller bar, tiltable coupler bars corresponding with each door and its lever, an independently slidable bar, lugs upon this bar and upon each coupler bar whereby the movement of the independent bar will raise the couplers and engage the door lever with the controller bar, notches to move the doors or disengage them to leave the doors stationary in either an open or a closed position, and means to lock the controller bar and the doors in either position.

8. A plurality of alined horizontally slidable doors having locking catches on the edges, vertically guided bolts engageable therewith, slotted bars having .bolt lifting lugs, and pins through the slots to subsequently move the doors, a guided notched controller bar slidable parallel with the doors, lever arms fulcrumed to the bars on the doors, and projecting into the path of the controller bar, tiltable coupler bars corresponding with each door and its lever, an independently slidable bar, lugs upon this bar and upon each coupler bar whereby the movement of the independent bar will raise the couplers and engage the door lever with the controller bar, said lugs being so disposed that any door or doors may be opened or closed, and locking means to retain said doors in either position.

In testimony whereof I have hereunto set my hand in the presence of two subscribing Witnesses.

CHARLES M. FINCH.

Witnesses:

CHARLES A. PENFIELD, E. S. BLASDEL.

Copies of this patent may he obtained for five cents each, by addressing the "Commissioner of Patents, Washington, D. 0. 

